Are You a Scrooge?

Maybe it?s the eggnog. Maybe it?s that one time I got a replica New York Giants uniform when I was nine and ran around my house in neon clothes screaming like a tiny banshee. Maybe it?s the advertising pros brainwashing me into buying peppermint flavored ?holiday? Oreos. Whatever it is, I friggin? love Christmas.

Humbug

If you?re like me, you?ve seen your fair share of Christmas movies. They?re kind of hard to avoid this time of year. I think I?ve seen ?A Christmas Story? about ten bajiillion times now. My favorite all-time Christmas flick, however, has to be ?A Christmas Carol.? And any version is pretty much fine with me, whether it?s the 1984 George C. Scott version or the Disney one with Scrooge McDuck. Heck, even Billy Murray?s ?Scrooged? is cool with me.

Ebenezer Scrooge?s transformation from a miserable, self-hating curmudgeon into a jolly ball of happiness and positivity never gets old. You have to be an ultra-cynic asshole to watch him send that huge goose over to Bob Cratchit?s house and not get sort of teary-eyed.

I?ve watched ?A Christmas Carol? a bunch of times, and it always makes me question my own personality and self-worth. Do I approach things from a positive perspective or do I walk around in misery, cursing myself and taking my anger out on others? I haven?t been visited by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, or Future yet, so I think I?m doing decent.

If you think about it, Scrooge is pretty much a dude that?s given up on life. He spent his life doing nothing but accumulate money and it?s made him a goddamn mess. He walks around miserable and broken, yelling at kids on the street, as well as his one and only employee. His ?Bah! Humbug? is pretty much the modern-day equivalent of ?I don?t give a flying fuck.?

While you?re out at Bath and Body Works buying candles for your mom/girlfriend or attending your friend?s booze-fueled holiday party this weekend, consider your attitude. Are you confident and approaching life from a positive perspective? Or are you walking into every situation with a foul look on your face, questioning yourself and just being an all-around negative prick?

It wouldn?t hurt to look at yourself from an outsider?s perspective as Scrooge does with the three spirits in ?A Christmas Carol.? If you could spend a day watching yourself, would you see a Scrooge or a confident, positive thinking dude? Would you see someone who ?Bag-humbugs? his days away or goes in confident and hoping for the best?
The holiday season can be a trying one. Whether it?s dealing with relatives you?d rather not see or standing in line at Best Buy at 4 a.m. to save $200 on a dumb laptop, late November and December can be rough. If you?re a confident guy and go in with a positive attitude, you just might avoid getting in a fistfight over politics or wrestling a stranger on the floor for that last Chromebook.